Emerging firms, industry stalwarts go head to head. Lindsay J Orr, chief operating officer, Jones Lang LaSalle Phlippines, and chairman of the independent panel of judges; Terry Blackburn, founder of the Asia Property Awards, and managing director of PropertyGuru Internation
al; and Marie Grace Ofamen, consultant, title sponsor Hansgrohe, field
questions from the media at the pre-event briefing.
Entries to the Philippine Property Awards 2016 nearly doubled to 200 from 100 in 2015 as more small and emerging real estate firms came out in the open to compete with industry stalwarts in the upcoming property event.
This year, the annual property awards event will be also giving attention to smaller developers, springing a new category for boutique developers, in recognition of the growth of small-scale developments in the country, said stakeholders on Tuesday.a
In a pre-event briefing held last week at the Fairmont Hotel in Makati City, Property Guru managing director Terry Blackburn identified some of the smaller property firms shortlisted to compete in the property awards, including AppleOne Properties Inc,, and King Properties.
“Banging the drums.” Regional developments in Davao and Cebu are making their presence felt in the annual property event.
AppleOne Properties is a mixed-use and residential real-estate developer, while King Properties is a middle-income housing developer with three projects under its belt.
Blackburn considers property players that have two or three small developments as “boutique” developers. Lindsay J. Orr, chief operating officer of Jones Lang LaSalle Philippines and chairman of the Property Awards’ independent panel of judges, said the awards are more inclusive this year, as more project entries from Cebu and Davao have been submitted.
Blackburn, founder of the Asia Property, acknowledged the rise in quality, smaller developments that prompted the Philippine edition of the awards to include a Best Boutique Developer.
“We always try to reach more boutique developers. There aren’t as many here as in other countries, but we’re giving them a chance to compete among themselves,” he said. It’s always been a category in other countries, but it’s the first time for the Philippines, and this year we’ve had quality entrants.”
The competition is usually dominated by several entries from big real estate firms such as SM Development Corp., Megaworld Corp. Vista Land, Alveo Land, Sta. Lucia Land and Century Properties Group Inc.
Regional presence
There are 23 categories up for awards. These are Best Boutique Developer, Best Luxury Condo Development, Best Mid-Range Condo Development (Metro Manila), Best Affordable Condo Development (Metro Manila), Best Condo Development (Cebu), Best Housing Development (Cebu), Best Residential Development (Davao), Best Condo Development (Resort), Best Housing Development, Best Hotel Development, and Best Office Development, among others.
“Whilst there is still an emphasis in Metro Manila, there is an increase in the number of entries from Cebu and also Davao. What we need to do now is to continue to bang the drums and build the awareness for the Philippines Property Awards so that next year we make sure that we’ll have an even larger section of entries from other regions,” said Orr.
Some regional firms will even compete against themselves, including Primary Homes Inc, with two nominations in the Best Condo Development (Cebu) category, and Cebu Land Masters, with two nods for the Best Housing Development (Cebu) award.
Major Manila-based developers are also broadening their property investments across the country. For instance, four-time nominees Alveo Land and Vista Land & Lifescapes Inc will go up against Megaworld for the Best Residential Development (Davao).
But Metro Manila-based developers, as usual, dominate the nominations, as Andrew Tan’s Megaworld Corp. led the pack with 16 nominations across various development and design categories.
SM Group’s various subsidiaries garnered 10 nominations.
Megaworld’s top bets include the Uptown Bonifacio development that received six nominations, spanning the retail, office architecture and luxury-condo development categories.
The SM Group’s nominations are for its commercial development arm, SM Prime Holdings, which had a strong showing in hotel, retail, and office sub-categories.
The Philippine Property Awards, now on its fourth year, is part of the regional Asia Property Awards program.
Top winners from Philippines this year will get the chance to compete with their counterparts from 8 ASEAN countries of the Asia Property Awards at the grand finals in Singapore in November at the South East Asia Property Awards 2016.
